All the way back to Bobby's, through getting ice cream and everything, Imogen was bouncing, beaming with energy. This was the absolutely happiest that Bobby had seen Imogen since her brother's had just up and left. He didn't want to question it because he didn't want her to start moping again, but he was also undoubtedly curious as to what had put her in such a delightful mood.
Once they got back to the house and Imogen was literally humming to herself Bobby decided to go ahead and ask her.
"So who hit you with the happy stick?" Bobby asked.
"Oh," she giggled, "Sorry."
Bobby shook his head, "No, I'm not complaining. Just wanted to know what I did to make you all smiley," he unlocked the front door to the house to let them both inside.
It almost slipped off of Imogen's tongue. She almost told Bobby about the really cute guy who she had accidentally walked in on in the bathroom. She almost told him that he had asked her out and she had given him her number. But she stopped herself. Would he be okay with her dating? Hell, would Sam and Dean be okay with it? She wasn't at all sure, so she decided to wait on it until she knew she was really going to be going out with this guy.
"I'm just really happy to have my leg back," she smiled at him brightly, "Are you hungry? I'm hungry," she floated into the house and into the kitchen, "How does chili sound?" she asked as she opened the fridge and started pulling out ingredients.
Bobby followed her into the kitchen, quite enjoying the new attitude the girl was having, "Sounds great," he smiled.
She turned to face him, "Sit, sit," she instructed, "Want a beer?"
Bobby nodded as he sat down, "Absolutely."
Imogen grabbed one from the fridge, popped the top off of it, and passed it to him, "Relax," she told him, "I wanna thank you for putting up with my moody bullshit the last few weeks."
"Ah, kid. You don't have to do that."
"I know I don't," she said, putting the chili on to cook, "But I want to. And I'm going to. So if you need anything just let me know, okay?"
Bobby nodded, "All right, hun," he slowly stood up, "Well if you don't mind I'm gonna go watch the uh…. Game."
Imogen rolled her eyes, "Go watch your Tori and Dean. I'll pretend like I can't hear it."
Bobby let out a short chuckle and gently tousled the girl's hair, "That's why I keep you around."
She went back to her work preparing the chili and once she had it all simmering she saw her phone light up with a call from an unknown number. Her heart skipped a beat and she hesitated only slightly before she answered it.
"Hello?" she said into the device.
"Hey, is this Imogen?"
It was him, "Oh hey. Yeah, this is her."
"Hey, it was really cool meeting you today. Even if it was a little weird."
"Oh no, it wasn't weird. I liked meeting you too," she stammered awkwardly.
"So, I wanted to see if you were still down to hang out sometime? I dunno, I know we only met a couple hours ago but I really can't quit thinking about you… And I swear that's not some cheap pick up line or whatever, I seriously can't."
The young girl's cheeks were bright red, "Yes, yes I would love to hang out."
"That's great!" the guy sounded extremely relieved, "I was afraid you had time to reconsider and were gonna turn me down," he paused, "Or that you had possibly given me a fake number."
"Nope," she smiled, "I'm really glad that you called."
"I'd be outta my damn mind if I didn't call you," he hesitated, "So what's your schedule? Do you have school or work or whatever?"
"Nope," she paused, "I'm pretty much free whenever."
"Okay, cool. So how about tomorrow night? I would say tonight but I've got to work."
"Tomorrow sounds great," she couldn't keep the smile off of her lips, "I'm new to town, so I don't really know what's around."
"That's fine, I have a place in mind. It'll blow your mind. So can I pick you up around nine?"
"Sure," she gave him the address without thinking, "Uh, what should I wear?"
"Casual, something light would be best. It's gonna be pretty hot outside," he told her, "Good walking shoes."
"Got it," she smiled, "I can't wait."
"Me either. Talk to you soon."
Imogen hung up the phone and went back to cooking the food. She and Bobby had a really chill evening. Imogen even convinced him to let her have a beer with him. They played a couple of rounds of cards before Bobby went upstairs and passed out. Imogen stayed downstairs and cleaned up the kitchen and living room before she went upstairs and locked her door.
She had managed to keep one of her mom's boxes, one that had just been full of clothes so it slipped Bobby's mind to take it. She dumped the clothes out on her bed and sifted through them. She needed to find something to wear on this date. All she owned were jeans, t-shits, and flannels. Not exactly something you want to wear on a date.
However she and her mom were roughly the same size and her mom had quite the fashion sense. Finally she found a cute tank top that was cut just low enough to show a little bit of cleavage but not too revealing and a pair of semi-short jean shorts. She pulled the outfit on and looked in the mirror. She actually looked like a woman and she was damn impressed.
She changed back out of it and into her pajamas and lay down on the bed. It was nearly three in the morning before she fell asleep and she woke just passed noon. That wasn't anything new though, she had always been a night owl. She took a shower and threw on some clothes before heading downstairs and seeing Bobby pouring over a case file.
"Whatcha got there?" she asked, wandering into the study.
Slowly he looked up at her and then back down, "Possibly some ghouls down in Alabama," he said, "Need to call Garth, he's down in that area I think," Bobby yawned and took a drink from the mug that was sitting on his desk.
Once he set it down Imogen picked it up and sniffed it, making a face and setting it back down, "Ah Bobby. Come on, it's barely noon and your coffee is already Irish?"
Bobby grunted something that Imogen didn't quite catch.
"How long you been up?" she asked.
"Since five," he muttered.
"Maybe you should get some sleep."
Bobby slapped his hand on the table, "Hey, I don't need to be micromanaged kid. Why don't you run along and play or something?"
Imogen jumped and took a step back, Bobby obviously didn't want any company and she understood that but it still hurt her feelings a bit, "Sorry," she said as she turned and headed from the room.
She heated herself up a bowl of chili and spooned that in her mouth before washing the dishes and heading out back where she spent an hour or so just wandering the salvage yard aimlessly. There really wasn't much else to do. Briefly her mind wandered to her brothers. What were they doing? Were they okay? She still hadn't heard anything from either of them. This was the longest she had gone without talking to them. It bugged her but she decided to push it to the back of her mind, today was going to be a good day. She wasn't going to let Sam and Dean's absence ruin that.
She wandered back into the house a while later and Bobby was still staring down the case file, making calls, and doing research. She poked her head in the study about an hour before her date, "Hey, Bobby," she frowned, "Do you want me to get you anything?"
Once again Bobby looked up, "What? No," he yawned, "I'm about to hit the hay," he told her as he got up, "You okay?"
"Yeah," she smiled, "I'm great. Good, you need sleep."
Bobby nodded and walked passed her, almost zombie like up the stairs. When she walked by his door ten minutes later she heard very loud snoring. She was secretly glad he went to bed, she wasn't sure how she could get out of the house without him asking where she was going.
She dressed in the outfit she had picked out the night before, along with her black and white high-top Converse and made it out of the house as quietly as possible. She walked to the edge of the property and right as nine rolled around so did Nick. He pulled up in a newer model Mustang and Imogen climbed in the front seat.
"Hey," she smiled at him as he drove down the road.
"Hey," he smiled back, "Good to see ya."
"You too," she laughed nervously, "I was half expecting you to cancel on me."
He shook his head, "Please, no one would cancel on someone as beautiful as you."
Imogen shrugged, "I wouldn't know," she admitted, "I've never actually been on a date before."
"Really?" Nick said, sounding very surprised.
"Yeah, well I moved around a lot so I never got to know anyone well enough."
"Well, I'm honored to be your first date," he told her, "Mind if I ask how old you are? I'm twenty-two."
Imogen bit her lip, she hadn't even realized he was so much older than her, "I'm seventeen," she lied.
"Wow, seventeen. You look much older than seventeen."
"Sorry," she frowned, "Is that like a deal breaker?"
He shook his head, "Nah, I'm good with it. Now, if you were like fifteen that would be a deal breaker."
She nodded, feeling a little bit guilty about the lie, but not wanting to ruin her chance at this date, "So are you from around here?"
"No, not originally. I moved out here after high school to go to college and when college didn't exactly work out I found a job and just stayed. I love it here."
Imogen nodded, "Yeah, it's really nice."
"So you said you moved a lot… Can I ask why?"
She sighed, trying to figure out how to be as vague as possible without seeming suspicious, "Well, my brothers raised me and they were always travelling for work."
"Oh?" he asked, turning onto the highway, "What did they do?"
"Pest control," she chuckled, "You wouldn't believe the stuff we found in people's basements."
"So you guys settled here?"
She shook her head, "No, I broke the hell outta my leg and they dumped me here on my uncle a couple months ago since I couldn't help. Haven't seen or heard from them since."
Nick scoffed and shook his head as he pulled into a large parking lot, "What dicks," then he paused, "Sorry, they're you're brothers… Just sounds kinda like a dickish thing to do."
She shrugged, "I've accepted it," she looked around the parking lot and then noticed that they were at a carnival. There was a Ferris wheel, a small rollercoaster, lots of food booths. She'd seen these places on TV all the time but never actually been to one, "Holy hell," she smiled, "I've always wanted to go to one of these."
Nick smiled a little as he got out and walked over to her side of the car to open the door and help her out, not letting go of her hand as he shut her door, "Well, looks like tonight is a night of firsts for you, huh?"
Imogen smiled and nodded, "Looks like it."
The two strolled hand in hand to the ticket booth where Nick bought them a ridiculous amount of tickets for the evening and they walked around the park together.
"What do you wanna do first?" he asked.
She paused and looked around before spotting a haunted house, "What about that?"
"What? You're not afraid?"
Imogen laughed loudly, if only she could tell him about the thousands of times she had dug up a corpse and burned the bones, but instead she just shook her head, "Fake monsters don't scare me."
He smiled and they walked over together, "All right, but if you get scared don't say I didn't warn ya," he let go of her hand only briefly to hand over the correct amount of tickets to the ticket taker then grabbed her hand as they walked inside the dimly lit building, "Don't let go of my hand," he said in her ear, "You might not be scared, but I totally am."
Imogen knew he was joking but she humored him always, "Yes sir."
The 'haunted' house was short and ridiculously lame. People with white sheets draped over them jumped out to try and scare them and fake skeletons fell from the ceilings as fog filled the room and they flashed lights at them. As Imogen and Nick were walking out they were both cackling with laughter about how bad the attraction really had been.
"That was literally the worst piece of shit ever," Nick smiled, pulling her gently away from the building.
"You're tellin' me," she chuckled, "I've never been in one before and even I know that was bad."
Nick smiled and took her other hand, "You know, you're way to pretty to have no life experience."
"I have life experience," she argued, almost defensively, "Just not the same ones that you have."
"Like what? Pest control?"
Imogen nodded, "Yeah," she smiled a little, "Pest control."
"Come on," he gently pulled her, "Let's get something to eat. What are you in the mood for? Pizza? Nachos? Hot dogs," he paused, "You have had those foods, right?" he teased.
With a roll of her eyes Imogen walked with him, "I lived on the road, getting most of my meals from 7/11. Yeah, I think I've had those."
"Okay, okay I'll stop. So what do you want?"
"Nachos sound great."
Nick nodded and let go of her hand, "I'll get the food. You find us a table?"
Imogen nodded and scouted the grounds, eventually finding a decently clean table and sitting down. The lines were long so it took Nick about ten minutes to get back with the food, but he didn't disappoint. He brought back the most intensely heavy nachos Imogen had ever laid eyes on and a humongous thing of cotton candy, setting it down on the table and sitting right across from her.
"I thought you might have never had cotton candy since you've never been to the fair, Cotton candy is something that no one should die without trying."
Once again the girl rolled her eyes, "I've had cotton candy," she chuckled as she picked up a nacho and stuffed it in her mouth, "Oh my god this is disgusting," she exclaimed as she picked up another and did the same.
He nodded, "Carnival nachos are horrid. But something about them won't let you stop until they are gone or you accidentally drop them in the dirt," he explained as he grabbed some to shove in his mouth.
"So, can I ask why your brothers raised you? Why not your mom or dad?"
Imogen sighed as she ate more of the nachos, "Well, my dad travelled with my brothers for work. It's kinda a family business and they didn't know about me at the time, until after our dad was already dead. We have different moms. Anyways, my mom died and they kinda took me in. We were like the only family we had."
Nick nodded slowly, "I'm sorry to hear that," he ran a hand through his hair, "My mom died when I was little too, and my dad was a druggie so I kinda raised myself," he confessed, "I was glad as hell when I graduated and got the hell away from him."
Imogen nodded slowly, "I bet."
They finished off the nachos and both got back up to walk around. They played a couple of the carnival games but neither of them were very good and they didn't win anything.
Nick checked the time, "We have time for like two things before they kick us out," he said, "Wanna do the rollercoaster and the Ferris wheel?"
Imogen nodded, "Yeah, I've never done either."
He grabbed her hand and the two ran to the roller coaster.
"So am I actually gonna get to see you scared on this?" he asked as they were strapped in to the cart.
"Maybe," she smiled as he once again took her hand, "It looks like it could fall apart at any minute."
"Oh it could," he smiled brightly, "That's part of the fun."
Then the cart jerked forward as they went up the first incline. Imogen's hand did actually tighten on Nick's as they went down at high speed. Sure this was nothing compared to knifing a shapeshifter, but it was a whole new kind of adrenaline.
When it was over Imogen actually felt like she was still moving, but she was really glad to get out. Her legs were numb and for a minute she thought she wasn't going to be able to walk, but Nick was there to help her.
"Fun?" he asked as they climbed off of the platform and walked away from the ride.
"I dunno if I'd call that fun," she chuckled a little, "It was certainly interesting."
"Good!" he smirked, "I need to leave my mark on you good or bad. Now come on, they are closing soon and we are getting on that Ferris wheel if it kills us," he said, gripping her hand as they both sprinted across the park.
They had perfect timing, they got to the Ferris wheel just in time for the last night. Nick handed over the last of their tickets and got into one of the carts together. Slowly it rose and fell and the two admired the city scape.
"Wow," Imogen sighed, leaning up against her date, "This is beautiful."
Nick nodded, "Yeah, but nowhere near as beautiful as you."
Imogen smiled and intertwined her fingers with his, "I've had a really great time with you, Nick."
Nick nodded, "Yeah, I have too. This is the best date I've been on in as long as I can remember. You're amazing."
"Thank you," she said, meeting his eye, "Thank you for the best first date ever."
"Hey," he asked as the wheel was at the top for the third time, "Can I kiss you?"
Imogen gently bit her lip, "I uh, I don't know how."
He shrugged, "First times all around tonight?"
Slowly she nodded and in an instant the two were locking lips. It felt good, so much better than when the vampire had stuck his tongue down her throat, but she wasn't thinking about that right now. As a matter of fact, all she was thinking about was the beautiful boy with his face pressed against her own.
Once the wheel made it to the bottom for the final time and the two got off they headed back to Nick's Mustang and he drove her back to Bobby's, parking in front of the house and getting out of the car. Imogen got out too and looked at him.
"What are you doing?" she asked as he took her hand.
"Walking you to the door," he explained, "It's the gentlemanly thing to do."
"Oh," she couldn't help but the blush a little and was glad it was dark so that he wouldn't see.
They got to the door, which was illuminated by Bobby's porch light, and Imogen turned to face the man.
"Nick, I seriously had the most amazing time."
Nick nodded, "So did I. Can I see you again?"
Imogen nodded, "I would love that."
"Soon?" he asked, "Can I call you?"
"I'd be pissed if you didn't."
And then the two were kissing again. Nick had gently pushed Imogen up against the wall and his arms were wrapped around her while her hands were running up through his hair. Imogen was so absorbed in the man that she didn't hear the front door open.
Bobby loudly cleared his throat which is what got Imogen's attention and the look of horror that crossed her face is what got Nick's. He followed her gaze to the unhappy looking man standing in the door.
"Someone's got some explaining to do," Bobby announced, looking at the both of them.
"I-I'm Nick," Nick stuttered out.
"Yeah, Bobby. This is my friend Nick. Nick this is my uncle Bobby."
Nick extended his hand for a hand shake but Bobby ignored him, "It's nice to meet you, sir."
Bobby shook his head, "Kid, I think you best be going," he looked at Imogen, "Inside, now."
Nick and Imogen exchanged nervous glances.
"Yes sir," Nick agreed before looking to Imogen once more, "I'll call you, okay?"
Imogen nodded and slowly trudged inside of the house, Bobby shutting the door behind them.